VentureForth
Engineer
Perhaps with the new Viewliner order, this could happen. Then run the CL through WAS all the way to NYP like the Card.
Crap on the Cap
- Thread starter Anderson
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From the current timetable:
Service on the Capitol Limited
Coaches: Reservations required.
Sleeping cars: Superliner sleeping accommodations.
Amtrak Metropolitan Lounge/ClubAcela available in Wash ing ton and
Chicago for Sleeping car passengers.
Dining: Enhanced Dining Car service; complete meals served on china.
Sightseer Lounge: Sandwiches, snacks and beverages.
Checked baggage at select stations.
Why would Amtrak tout Enhanced Dining Car service when the staff seemingly does nothing to enhance the dining experience?
To me, enhanced implies better than usual and the posts on this thread lead me to believe it's anything but that.
We all know that the menus are the same so, in the case of the CL, enhanced must mean the same old food put on a china plate served by staff with bad attitudes..
No passenger, sleeper or coach, should have to beg for service during meal times and they most definitely should not be scolded or treated poorly by staff.
I haven't had the pleasure of taking the CL yet but, before I do, I sure hope someone takes up these poor service issues with the route manager or whatever they're called.
Service on the Capitol Limited
Coaches: Reservations required.
Sleeping cars: Superliner sleeping accommodations.
Amtrak Metropolitan Lounge/ClubAcela available in Wash ing ton and
Chicago for Sleeping car passengers.
Dining: Enhanced Dining Car service; complete meals served on china.
Sightseer Lounge: Sandwiches, snacks and beverages.
Checked baggage at select stations.
Why would Amtrak tout Enhanced Dining Car service when the staff seemingly does nothing to enhance the dining experience?
To me, enhanced implies better than usual and the posts on this thread lead me to believe it's anything but that.
We all know that the menus are the same so, in the case of the CL, enhanced must mean the same old food put on a china plate served by staff with bad attitudes..
No passenger, sleeper or coach, should have to beg for service during meal times and they most definitely should not be scolded or treated poorly by staff.
I haven't had the pleasure of taking the CL yet but, before I do, I sure hope someone takes up these poor service issues with the route manager or whatever they're called.
The service manager for this train is Linda Anderson, based in Wash. DC. unfortunately I am not sure of an address. My guess is that her office is in REA bldg on 2nd st NE, but not 100% sure...Or like the B&O did when they first ran it?
That actually brings up another idea for another thread...
Anyhow, I have a complaint letter drafted. Where do I send it?
In the mid 1990s, the Capitol Limited had the side of the dining car towards the Sleepers reserved for Sleeping Car passengers and the opposite side for coach passengers. That made dining a very relaxing experience.
jis
Permanent Way Inspector
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Amtrak has been trying ever since they split the Cap off into a separate train to put as much lipstick possible on a pig to see if it would perform. It has not quite lived upto their expectations, even being the lowest fare train from Chicago to the east coast. It seemed to be beyond their meager intelligence to comprehend that theyw ere inherently gutting a woriing system by essentially removing through single seat service from the Pennsy Main line and expecting everyone to transfer, while they were busy serving ..... drumroll .... Cumberland! Such was the brilliance of the man from Toronto!
When they did the split they needed to show that it is capable of performing, so they chose it to go on the route with bigger population centers, and relegated the Broadway to a route which had exactly two reasonable population centers, and then proceeded to kill the Boradway even though it basically performed more or less as well as the Cap. Now they are trying to resurrect the same thing as existed before they split the Cap off as a separate train to try to get the Cap to perform, and this time with the ex-Broadway part on the more populous route too to boot!
Oh well...... what goes around comes around after a decade or two. Without that where would consultants whether internal or external be?
OK, now I am done moaning for the day!
When they did the split they needed to show that it is capable of performing, so they chose it to go on the route with bigger population centers, and relegated the Broadway to a route which had exactly two reasonable population centers, and then proceeded to kill the Boradway even though it basically performed more or less as well as the Cap. Now they are trying to resurrect the same thing as existed before they split the Cap off as a separate train to try to get the Cap to perform, and this time with the ex-Broadway part on the more populous route too to boot!
Oh well...... what goes around comes around after a decade or two. Without that where would consultants whether internal or external be?OK, now I am done moaning for the day!
Just take it westbound as most of the complaints seem to be about the eastbound CL.
My first LD trip on Amtrak was on the CL/CZ westbound and I don't recall any problems with the dining staff on either trains.
TVRM610
Conductor
The Capitol, Empire Builder, Coast Starlight, and Auto Train have real china and glassware. Oddly enough my worst dining car staffs have been encountered on the Captiol and Starlight.
My last trip on the Empire Builder (feb. 2013) was the best dining car service anyone could ask for (far exceeded via rail). As did my 2 trips so far on the City of New Orleans. My trip last week on the Crescent was average service, above average food (same menu, just garnished and prepared exceptionally well).
My last trip on the Empire Builder (feb. 2013) was the best dining car service anyone could ask for (far exceeded via rail). As did my 2 trips so far on the City of New Orleans. My trip last week on the Crescent was average service, above average food (same menu, just garnished and prepared exceptionally well).
Ahem... excuse me... the CS is not operated by CalTrans, it is operated by Amtrak.
Last I heard, CalTrans did not serve Oregon and Washington. And the CS does. And, no, Oregon is not part of Califormia.
Unfortunately, somewhere in the past I got the idea that the Cap Ltd experience would be kind of like that on the EB and the CS, which are my favorite trains and truly wnderful. Hubby and I are booked on the CL in December -- and I truly hope that you AU'ers that ride it between now and then will be vocal and help Amtrak to "get it right" before then. I also would like to know Linda Anderson's contact info, just in case I need it, ha, ha!
VentureForth
Engineer
Ahem. You're right.
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The Davy Crockett
Engineer
Just a thought: Since the CL crew is based in WAS, maybe they 'party hardy' in CHI and are very tired, hungover and grumpy on the return trip to WAS... No excuse, of course, but a possible explanation...
EDIT: I should add that I had okay service on #30 when I took it last July.
EDIT: I should add that I had okay service on #30 when I took it last July.
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Do you think the crew arrives in CHI at 8:45am, and the same crew turns right around and goes back to WAS at 6:10 the same evening? Surely this is not a hardship -- the whole shift would be less than 48 hours (even counting the turnaround time in CHI), and that is about the same as a shift on any of the western LD trains.
That is correct. They do a same day turn.
battalion51
Engineer
I think the moral of the story is that in all situations where you encounter excessively bad, or excessively good service no one will recognize it unless it is communicated. Nothing says you have to necessarily be seeking compensation when you make the complaint, but if you don't voice your opinion directly to the company (regardless of industry) it will never get fixed. As a hotelier I make mention of any issues I find on any stay (regardless of whether I'm a paying guest, or it's comp). Even if it doesn't inconvenience or bother me I report it so it can be resolved, same goes for service. If there is an agent or housekeeper that was great I always let someone know so they can recognize that person.
Send it to Joseph Boardman at the main Amtrak address in DC.
the_traveler
Engineer
That's where I had planned to send mine. Right to Big Joe himself!
Ha, ha, thank you, Sorcha, for a very well-explained set of directions! I am copying this for my records now...
Mine is going to go to Boardman as well. I'd rather send it to the train's superior officer (as indicated earlier in the thread), but I figure Boardman is a modestly better option than customer service.
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crescent2
Conductor
While writing to Mr. Boardman is no doubt better, it's not a waste of time to phone customer relations. The only time we ever phoned to voice a complaint (along with a compliment for the way the crew handled the problem), we received a travel voucher even though we had not asked for any compensation. I'm sure the phone agents must account for these somehow, so we felt that our messages would have been passed upward, as we had requested.
We just returned from a LD trip. One leg was on the CL EB to WAS. This was our first time to ride this train. First our SCA put us in the wrong car. We had to move all of our stuff to another car. Embarrassing. We never had any ice. We were sent to the diner car for it. We had a roomette(#2) across the hall from our SCA. He stayed closed up in his room most of the trip. He sat and watched us make up/down our beds without offering to help. The bathroom near our room had no toilet paper from 10 pm to 8 am, no air freshener, and no hand sanitizer. The dining car service wasn't much better. Our order was supposed to have the vegetable medley. It did not. The service was very slow.
ScottC4746
OBS Chief
-And to reprimand me for not coming to breakfast early enough.
Now to be fair, my first LD train was SSLTD1 from NOL-LAX. At lunch Alice Wong, our waitress has a sharped tounge sense of humor that shocked at first but had us all rolling in the aisle. Lunch out of New Orleans one of my table mates said they would pass on desert when she took the order for deserts. When she brought them to the table he commented how good it looks and he wanted one. She replied with, Nope, sorry too late," left and brought what he wanted to the table. Love her sense of humor.
Now to be fair, my first LD train was SSLTD1 from NOL-LAX. At lunch Alice Wong, our waitress has a sharped tounge sense of humor that shocked at first but had us all rolling in the aisle. Lunch out of New Orleans one of my table mates said they would pass on desert when she took the order for deserts. When she brought them to the table he commented how good it looks and he wanted one. She replied with, Nope, sorry too late," left and brought what he wanted to the table. Love her sense of humor.
greatcats
Engineer
I have had Alice on the Sunset, also, and she was quite entertaining. I asked about the Tilapia fish and she replied, " You don't want that- it's hospital food. . ". Miss Polly on the Texas Eagle is sort of entertaining in a different way.
ScottC4746
OBS Chief
Yup, that sounds like Alice.
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